Bay Ridge

It's getting to be an unwelcome sign of spring in the communities in Maryland's upper Chesapeake Bay region -- the clotting of beaches and waterways with logs, tree stumps, tires, plastic foam junk and occasional needles.The floating debris, washed in from as far away as Cooperstown, N.Y., is released into bay-bound waterways during winter months when floodgates are opened on dams along the Susquehanna River to reduce dangerously high water levels.The price of averting flooding is the accumulated garbage of northeastern states landing hundreds of miles away on the shores of the bay and on local beaches.

Delivery drivers for two Annapolis area pizza stores were the targets of a robber late Wednesday and early yesterday at the same Bay Ridge address -- a vacant house on Chesapeake Avenue.County police said the first incident was reported shortly after 11 p.m. by a driver for Papa John's in Bay Ridge who said he was approached by a gunman in a dark hooded sweat shirt and baggy pants while attempting to deliver a pizza to 1402 Chesapeake.The robbery attempt failed when the driver fled without giving up any money, returning to the pizzeria to call police.

RECENTLY, TOM AND Kitty Stoner of Annapolis gave the Chesapeake Bay Foundation about a million dollars, accompanied by a request as delightful as it was modest.Stoner, an Iowan who chose to locate his communications business on the bay after sailing here, had a poignant memory of a park he discovered during a business trip to London.It was a tiny, serene island of open space amid the square miles of concrete and tall buildings. Several benches there had plaques, dedications from British and Americans who found respite and sanity in the little park during the chaos of bombings and war that shattered London in the early 1940s.

THERE ARE several photographs of Stuart Krick, but the best was taken on a sparkling summer day in 1960 in the kiddie pool at Bay Ridge Beach near Annapolis. It's the one Stuart's mother likes the most -- happy little boy, just 3 years old, getting a push on an inflated raft from his big brother, 5-year-old David, who LTC wades behind him, his hands in the air, hair cut short, ears sticking out."I like that picture the most because it shows Stuart just being a normal little boy, and playing like a normal little boy," says Shirley Krick.

An Edgewater man was arrested yesterday on charges that he ran over his wife with a van in front of their house in the Woodland Beach neighborhood.Demrick Paul Mayes, 35, of the 1600 block of Bay Ridge Road was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, failure to report an accident, giving false information to police and negligent driving.His wife, Karen M. Pioipauskis of the same address, was listed in serious condition yesterday at Prince George's Trauma Center in Cheverly.

A two-alarm fire yesterday at Bay Ridge Beach destroyed one beach pavilion, damaged a second and scorched five vehicles, Anne Arundel fire officials said.No one was injured in the fire, which was reported shortly before 3 p.m. on the Chesapeake Bay beach at Herndon Avenue.The fire destroyed a screened-in, wood-frame pavilion and spread to the second one, said Capt. Allan Graves, a county EMS/Fire/Rescue spokesman.The cause of the blaze was not known."It's under investigation," Graves said.

A 19-year-old Annapolis man was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for his part in the murder of a Florida woman stabbed by an accomplice who severed the victim's thumb and showed it off as a trophy.Tremayne Deon Howard faced his parents and apologized to them and to the victim's family in a choking voice."I never meant to hurt you all, in any way," he said, fighting back tears.Howard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October in the slaying of Katherine E. Brodie, whose body was found in February 1996 by boys playing in the woods near the 7400 block of Edgewood Road.

Cashiers at 15 liquor stores in and around Annapolis were charged yesterday with selling alcohol to a minor after a police sting operation Saturday in which an 18-year-old volunteer bought beer at every store he entered and never was asked for identification.Officers Frederick Paesch, O'Brien Atkinson and Michael Knisley took turns watching Michael Roomian of Edgewater buy beer from the stores with county money. No one asked him for identification to check his age, police said."We were incredibly surprised when we got 15 out of 15," Atkinson said.

WHEN I FIRST heard about the residents of Bay Ridge, outside Annapolis, installing their own stop signs, painting "slow" on the roadway and then staging a sit-in to prevent Anne Arundel County road crews from undoing their handiwork, I immediately thought of the Vietnam protests.About 28 years ago, University of Maryland students and others protesting the war blocked traffic on U.S. 1, painted slogans in roadway and defaced street signs. They also tussled with police and National Guard troops in what was billed as an effort to end the United States' participation in an unjust war.Despite their noble cause, the students were considered vandals.

Disregarding recent opposition from Anne Arundel County officials, the Annapolis City Council approved last night a proposal to annex 11.3 wooded acres in the Annapolis Neck Peninsula.The 7-2 vote will likely pave the way for developer Bayhouse Partners to build 50 single-family homes and some commercial establishments in the area, provided the necessary zoning changes are approved. Last night's vote came after several council members promised to carefully study future proposals to annex county land in an already traffic-choked Forest Drive corridor.

The two-story, wood-framed house on the Annapolis waterfront has seen better days. The walls are cracked, the blue carpet is worn, and floorboards creak under foot. But in the attic, torn pieces of a poster hang on the wall promoting a "gypsy band" concert more than a century ago - just one of the intriguing signs of the rich history connected with this dwelling built by one of Annapolis' most prominent 19th-century watermen. Advocates for building a National Sailing Hall of Fame in this Chesapeake Bay sailing mecca say the City Dock lot on which the old home sits would be an ideal location for their new $20 million museum.

Seventy Julys ago, two international diplomats lent a bit of exotic flavor to the community of Bay Ridge. In 1936, The Sun reported, an Egyptian and a Soviet diplomat stayed just a few beach blocks away from each other, frequently entertaining other ambassadors from Washington who joined them for a swim or tennis set. Yet their styles were a striking contrast. As The Sun noted, "Bay Ridge residents observed, at one extreme, the gregarious Egyptian Mohamed Amine Youssef, moving around the beach in his blue-striped `summer pajamas,' chatting with everyone, knowing all the children by their first names.

ISSUE: Annapolis officials have backed away from a consultant's plan to turn a busy junction on Bay Ridge Road into more of an urban center, noting a heated response from county residents who attended two public meetings. The consulting firm had recommended upgrading the area around Bay Ridge Road, Hillsmere Drive and Georgetown Road by redeveloping an aging plaza, acquiring homes for reuse and extending Georgetown Road. The plan called for turning Bay Ridge Road into a Main Street-style thoroughfare lined with shops, bike lanes, sidewalks and on-street parking.

ISSUE: Annapolis officials have backed away from a consultant's plan to turn a busy junction on Bay Ridge Road into more of an urban center, noting a heated response from county residents who attended two public meetings. The consulting firm had recommended upgrading the area around Bay Ridge Road, Hillsmere Drive and Georgetown Road by redeveloping an aging plaza, acquiring homes for reuse and extending Georgetown Road. The plan called for turning Bay Ridge Road into a Main Street-style thoroughfare lined with shops, bike lanes, sidewalks and on-street parking.

Annapolis backs off plans for junction Annapolis officials have backed away from a consultant's plan to turn a busy junction on Bay Ridge Road into more of an urban center, noting a heated response from county residents who attended two public meetings. But Mayor Ellen O. Moyer said yesterday there would be more meetings regarding the Annapolis Neck area and more development. "The staff felt like they had been uncivilly bashed and the meetings were counterproductive and we need to have productive meetings," she said.

As in many places where the water meets the land, life around Annapolis can be a pretty pricey affair. A political hub, a maritime magnet, an academic center for the nation's military and a tourist playground for much of the year, Annapolis draws the well-heeled and the disposable income that comes with them as flames draw moths. But while money talks as loudly in these parts as it does anywhere else, it is equally true that in the capital city many of the best things in life are free.

THIS WEEK, members of the Bay Ridge community south of Annapolis gathered to toast a remarkable tree preservation effort that has spanned 15 years. To preserve the area's magnificent mature forests - 150 acres that were faced with imminent development - residents raised $4 million. More than a decade ago, when that still seemed an almost insurmountable task, L. Eugene Cronin, a leading bay scientist, asked if I could write something on the value of forests to help his community's effort.

From the day it opened, the waterfront headquarters of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation was expected to consume 51.2 percent less energy than a conventional office building the same size. Now that the building has been in operation for nearly two years, it actually has exceeded those expectations - consuming 52.5 percent less energy than a conventional building, according to monitoring by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. It's also showing ways to improve the next generation of "green buildings" - structures designed to be environmentally sound and ecologically sensitive.

The state Board of Public Works voted yesterday to commit $450,000 to help preserve 111 acres of wooded land in the Bay Ridge community. Board members Gov. Parris N. Glendening and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp voted in favor of the proposal. Comptroller William Donald Schaefer abstained, saying Bay Ridge residents should contribute more money to the $4.1 million purchase, given the state's anticipated budget shortfall. Residents have agreed to pay a yearly tax assessment of $250 and have committed more than $900,000.

JUST SOUTH of Annapolis, in the thoroughly pleasant community of Bay Ridge, residents have come up with a plan to save one of the last open parcels of land along that section of the Chesapeake. Their scheme -- a complicated one that relies in part on money from the state's Open Space fund -- would halt development on a woodsy slope leading down to Black Walnut Creek. Today, the state Board of Public Works will take up the proposal, and although rejecting it would probably be worse than approving it, the Bay Ridge package offers a handy lesson in how not to carry out worthy policies.